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The VA blog is a voice for all veterans.

Thanks also should go to Lauren Bailey – the only non-vet on the VA social media team – who Friedman described as the perfect platoon sergeant for his team.

I can’t think of a better way to end the year than to thank the Veterans Affairs Department and its social media crew for the VAntage Point blog, an online voice for all veterans.

The institutional VA deserves praise for establishing the uncensored blog, written and managed by a crew composed mostly of current vets, including Afghanistan and Iraq Army veteran Brandon Friedman, who left VA this fall for a career in public relations, and Army Iraq vets Kate Hoit and Alex Horton.

Their honest voices resonate across generations of veterans, as they take on controversial issues – such as for-profit colleges trying to rip off GI Bill students and poor treatment of women vets – and highlight vets who have successfully overcome their combat experiences and forged successful new lives.